Recent Papers and Presentations by CETA Faculty

Dr. Ladimer Nagurney, associate professor of electrical, computer, and biomedical engineering, has had his paper “Sustainable Supply Chain Network Design: A Multicriteria Perspective” published in the September 2010 issue of International Journal of Sustainable Engineering. This paper, co-authored with Professor Anna Nagurney of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, was written during Dr. Nagurney’s recent sabbatical.  The paper focuses on the importance of identifying the optimal design of supply chains, which are complex networks consisting of manufacturing plants and various modes of transportation and distribution, along with storage technologies. Supply chains have costs and produce emissions, for instance, carbon, that can affect a business’s profits and reputation. Rigorous tools that determine how to minimize a carbon footprint through sustainable supply chain network design can significantly affect the cost of doing business.

Dr. Abby Ilumoka-Nwabuzor, professor of electrical and computer engineering, hosted a panel discussion and gave an invited talk at the June 2010 conference on Integrating Science and Mathematics Education Research into Teaching at the University of Maine in Orono. Dr. Ilumoka’s talk, “Development of Pedagogical Insights and Strategies to Overcome Barriers to Women in STEM,” featured the results of an after-school STEM program she conducted at Bloomfield and Simsbury, Conn., high schools in 2009 and 2010. Her program was sponsored by a grant from the Women’s Education and Leadership Fund (WELFund) here at the University of Hartford.

Dr. Michelle Vigeant, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, chaired the Concert Hall Research Group (CHRG) Summer Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in July 2010. The summer institute brings together professionals in and students of concert hall acoustics from around the world and featured top professionals in performing arts facility design, concert venue tours, and performances from the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and The Santa Fe Opera. Dr. Vigeant was joined on the organizing committee by Tim Foulkes of Cavanaugh Tocci Associates, Carl Rosenberg of AcenTech, and Bill Dohn of Dohn and Associates.

Dr. Vigeant also presented three papers at two international meetings held in Australia over the summer. At the International Congress on Acoustics (ICA), held in Sydney, August 23 through 27, she presented work on the just noticeable difference (JND), the smallest difference detectable on a room acoustics parameter clarity index (C80). She discussed results from two subjective listening tests comparing two different testing methods. This work, supported by the Paul S. Veneklasen Research Foundation, involved the assistance of four of Dr. Vigeant’s students: Meghan Ahearn, ’09; Matthew Schaeffler, ’09; Clothilde Giacomoni, ’10; and Christopher Jasinski, ’11.

The second conference, the International Symposium on Room Acoustics (ISRA), met in Melbourne, August 29 through 31. Dr. Vigeant was invited to discuss her work on anechoic recordings of orchestral music, work completed during her dissertation studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Vigeant also presented a poster concerning the acoustics subjective parameter of listener envelopment, the sense of being immersed in the sound field, as related to an objective parameter late lateral energy level (GLL). This work, supported by a University of Hartford Greenberg Junior Faculty Grant, was carried out with the assistance of three University students: David Dick, ’10; Madison Ford, ’10; and Carl Vogel, ’10.

Dr. Vigeant’s travel to Australia was funded by the Paul S. Veneklasen Research Foundation, the University of Hartford Greenberg Junior Faculty Grant, an International Symposium on Room Acoustics Young Scientist Grant, and the University of Hartford International Center Faculty Travel Grant.